Do you budget for vices? A recent study found that households earning less than $30,000 per year spend 13 percent of their income on things like lottery tickets, prepared drinks, and restaurants. The same low-income families spend an average of four times as much on lottery tickets as households bringing in $75,000 or more in annual income.
Spending on vices can be fine from time to time, but only if your budget for vices and can make them work with your more important personal finance goals.
How Much People Spend in Financial Vices
My first job after college was as a bank branch manager. I remember a few specific cases of people coming in after winding up with hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees, asking for relief….